Author's Note - Well after all the hype of the new Gears I must admit I was not disappointed, it's given me some interesting options and ideas for future works of written waffle.

Anyway I thought I'd get the next chapter out to you, it's much shorter than the others I must admit, but it's pretty intense. So I hope you enjoy.

Thanks for all the reads, it's nice to know that there are people out there reading my mass of nonsense.

Chapter Fifteen - Shattered Glass

"We need to stop!" Sofie shouted out, "the baby needs to feed."

"I am not stopping for you again Sofie," Aidie snapped back, as the ground shook and another Stalk burst through the acrid landscape nearby, "We will not be stopping till we are at the Church so we can arm ourselves. I don't care how much that child cries."

"She's hungry," Sofie's brow furrowed angrily.

"Yeah and I'm bloody exhausted, but neither of us are going to get what we want right now. We get to the Church and the child can feast for however long it wants."

"I told you I'm not going back to that place,"

"Well tough," Aidie grabbed hold of Sofie's wrist to heave her onwards, but she dragged her feet to slow them down, "stop it, don't make me do this."

"Let go of me Aidan, if you want to protect this child then fine, but you don't have a maternal bone in your body and will probably kill it,"

"Get over yourself Sofie,"

Emma stepped abruptly between the pair and plucked the child from Sofie, "I'll carry her till we get to the Church, she'll be fine a little longer. If you two ladies can finish your squabble quickly so we can get to the Church before the Lambent do."

Aidie released Sofie's wrist and they stared uncomfortably back at each other. Sofie's dark expression burned hatefully back at her whilst Aidie's stare froze any chance of the pair patching up their differences.

"If you want to get back to Tate, then you have to work with me," Aidie attempted to reason.

"You don't tell me what to do, let's face it, if you don't get me back to the village in one piece you will have failed as a Gear or whatever it is you call yourself. You'll be a walking failure and likely banished from the village," Sofie spat with a look of pure hatred.

"Whatever Sofie," Aidie muttered as she stormed away, one hand twitching over the handle of the blade, it would be too easy. She surged forward as she tried to concentrate on following Emma, Freja and getting to the Church. She could hear Sofie trudging angrily behind her heels, clearly frustrated at Aidie taking the higher ground.

"What is your use anyway," Sofie sniped behind her, "I mean c'mon look at you. You're not even a real Gear, it's like you got into your dead daddy's dressing up box and tried to be like him."

"I was trained in a COG run Compound to be a Gear, I recited the Octus Canon and I carry the tags like every other Gear. I fight the monsters so you don't have to. I don't wear the armour like the others because I am a Longshot specialist." Aidie recited the words she had frequently given to doubters, subconsciously reaching for her tags around her neck and remembered they were gone.

"You keep telling yourself that,"

Aidie whirled round, "What is your problem Sofie. Because I'm still racking my brain as to what I can do that won't incite you any further. I can't do anything right and I'm getting fed up of tiptoeing around you."

Sofie stopped and eyed her up and down, trying to work out whether she should dignify an answer. She scowled before pushing her way past her.

"I should have known," Aidie shook her head in bemusement.

Sofie hesitated for a moment, "I already made my feelings clear, I don't need to explain myself further."

"I didn't expect you to," Aidie drew alongside her, "but whatever your problems are with me you need to get over yourself. Because I'm not going anywhere."

The pair caught up abruptly to Emma and Freja who were standing in silence, partially hidden behind a rocky wall. Emma held the child close to her as she lowered herself to a squat to hide further whilst Freja had positioned herself for a clearer view. Sofie didn't need any words and followed suit. Aidie kept close as she angled herself beside Freja.

The Church itself remained standing, its ancient structure resolute throughout, but its surrounding statues had now tumbled to their doom around the ripped up courtyard where the Lambent Stalks had torn through the landscape. Aidie caught movement inside the Church and squinted to ascertain her suspicions.

Locust.

She had always known that the Locust had been out there somewhere, she had scoped them in the distance only a few days earlier. But it had been a while since she had seen a Drone, walking the Church grounds like it belonged, in all its horrific glory. They had adapted like the humans around them, the armour had shed a lot of its bulkier components but still keeping the essential aspects. It carried a weapon that resembled similarities to the Lancer, instead a long bayonet blade had been fixed to the underside of the muzzle.

An indescribable terror overcame her. Like she was a kid again, unarmed and helpless. The monsters had frightened her for every waking moment of her childhood. They were the reason she had grown up in a Compound filled with parentless children, taught to fear her gender and anything that was different. They had ripped apart her pitiful existence as a scared little girl and forced her into the protective arms of Sergeant Wilks where she had grown into the woman she was now. She had become stronger because of them. In fact they were a redemption. But even now the scared child remained deep within, hidden inside a part of her that had never been influenced by the man who had guided her through her fears. His strength had given her the courage to face the darkness. And now it was time to do it alone.

But then everyone needed a rite of passage at some point in their lives.

She let out a breath to steady herself then turned to the women hidden behind the wall. They needed her to keep her head together. It was time to be the Gear she was trained to be.

"Stay hidden, no matter what,"

"What about you?" Freja asked her hesitantly.

"I'm going to do something very stupid," she let out a slight laugh to herself then addressed Sofie, "hey at least if this goes terribly wrong it'll up your chances at getting Wilks back."

Freja placed a hand on her wrist, "let me come with you, I can help."

She shook her head adamantly, "No, you are the only one that stands between those three and the Locust down there if my plan goes awry."

She slipped away from them, darting silently between rocks and Stalks to assess the amount of Locust she was dealing with. Not that it mattered whether there were one or fifty, she had once witnessed two Drones mow down an entire room filled with children. They were bred to bring death regardless of numbers.

They had come out of the church now, five savage looking Locust, all with differing levels of weaponry that they had clearly scavenged from somewhere. She hoped it wasn't from the ammunition box hidden in the building. They grunted and growled at each other as they nervously circled the Lambent Stalks around them. Their diverted attention gave her a chance to approach closer than she hoped, adrenalin driving her onwards before her brain told her otherwise. A sickening heady feeling coursed through her as she scrabbled between cover, trying to work out her best tactic. She paused to watch as one signalled to fire at a pulsing pod on a Stalk, sensing their caution as if they were uncertain on their next step. She had stopped longer than she intended, but the last thing she expected was to come face to face with a hidden sixth Drone.

Its amber eyes lit up in delight as it realised it had caught her unaware. She let out a startled gasp and scrabbled for her knife, holding it out in defence trying to fight back the quiver in her hands. The Drone let out a guttural chuckle at her futile attempts and slid out its own dagger in response. It twisted the blade in the sunlight with its teeth bared in a grimace as it breathed a putrid breath over her. She felt her fear slowly ebb into frustration, not able to understand why it hadn't finished the job already and sliced her throat. Why was it toying with her?

"Do it," she seethed.

It blinked at her, calculating its options and tilting its head. For the first time she realised it was smaller than the other Locust, thinner, weaker. One arm hung lifeless at its side and she could see muscle had been ripped out of its bicep and it was missing a few fingers. It wasn't messing with her, it was hesitating because it was unsure it could do the job. There was no way she would have taken on a fully armed healthy Locust, but this one, she stood at least a chance at escaping. She swallowed and took all the strength inside her to look the Drone in the eyes, letting out a breath as it eventually followed suit to stare back at her.

"So much hatred between us and neither of us are willing to back down, but there's going to have to be a loser," She spoke softly to it, forcing down every inch of disgust from her.

It let out a grumble in its throat as if it was contemplating a response, she would never really know whether it actually understood what she had said. But she knew there was no way she going to humanise it. She put all her weight into throwing herself at it, hitting it square in the chest with her shoulder and forcing it to the dirt. It was strong, stronger than she realised, but there was only one way this fight was going to end and she didn't intend on losing.

It struggled and grunted as its good arm tried to thrust itself upwards against her chin, its claws catching hold and slicing downwards. She stifled a yelp as she lashed out at it with her knife, then swung herself sideways landing a blow in the Drone's kidney region to give her time. It squirmed from her as she grabbed hold of its good arm and wrestled it away from its body as it fought against her, slapping her backwards with its huge fist. She swung her leg over its waist to straddle it, spitting out blood as she did so and put all her strength into holding it down, ramming her blade into its palm in an attempt to limit its reactions. Its skin was thick forcing her to push her weight jabbing it harder into its hand. It let out a slight bellow as she leaned her arm into its mouth to muffle the noise, pushing heavily against it, the last thing she wanted was for it to alert the others. Its legs kicked and bucked out as its useless hand floundered around for something to help it. It tried to bite down on her arm the harder she pressed down against its mouth, she felt the sharpness of its teeth against the leather straps on her forearm. With her other hand she struggled as she slid out its own blade from its hip holster and angled it to thrust it hard upwards into its throat. It flailed and gurgled as blood bubbled up to its mouth, splattering her in the face. Quickly she withdrew the dagger and watched it choke on the sudden rush of blood, it spluttered and pooled around them, until it gazed lifelessly back at her.

She prised herself reluctantly off the Drone gasping and heaving as her adrenalin pounded through her system. Her face stung where it had grabbed her and she felt herself start to shake as she realised what she had done. There was so much blood.

Now was not the time to fall apart, she admonished herself.

She rolled the Locust onto its front so she could unhook the giant retro looking Lancer from its sling and slid her knife back into the covering hooked to her waist. She unstrapped the sheath from the Drone's dagger and knotted it to her thigh, two knives were always better than one. The Lancer was massive even for her so she slung it over her shoulder in case it would be needed.

She glanced down at the slumped lifeless body of the slaughtered Drone. She had never thought herself capable of killing a Locust in close quarters, a few years ago it wouldn't have been possible. Arguably it still wasn't. The pitiful example of a Locust crumpled at her feet was half as powerful as its stronger fully able buddies nearby.

She looked up to locate the other Locust, in case they were hiding in wait for her. They had dropped themselves into cover as another Stalk broke through the ground. A pulsing pod burst open and spewed out a gnarled monstrosity followed by a wave of Polyps.

Aidie took this as the diversion she needed to gain access to the Church. She dropped to a crouch and edged along the side of the building till she reached the back window. She unhooked the Lancer and wriggled through the gap, dropping quietly to the floor to assess whether any Locust had remained in the building. Once satisfied she was safe she leaned back out to pull the Retro Lancer in after her, placing it on the floor hidden under a pew in case she needed to run back to retrieve it, then went on to hunt out the ammunition box. She crawled around on her hands and knees searching under the rotting pews for the elusive weaponry stash.

"Where the hell is it?" she muttered to herself after going through the entire floor.

As she stood up to take in the room as a whole, a glint of coloured light reflected on the wall and caught her attention. She turned to examine a broken pane of painted glass still clinging to the window frame. She could see a picture of something she couldn't entirely depict and then realised that she had been searching incorrectly. She'd been looking for weapons like a scavenger, like a Locust. But the people who worshipped here had trusted and loved their deities wholeheartedly. The Church was an escape from the destruction of the world around them. The weapons would have been a gift for their protection.

She needed to find the main worship room.

As she looked further at the faded scriptures etched onto the cracked walls she realised she kept seeing the same picture again and again. A white flower blossoming. She followed the detailing, her fingers running along the walls until she felt a shift in the panelling. Butterflies flitted around her stomach suddenly. She leaned against it and felt the wall push open to reveal a semi intact staircase leading upwards. She let out a breath as she stepped cautiously one step at a time. How was it possible for Sera to keep hiding so many different secrets from a time long forgotten. As she reached the top step, one hand hovering hesitantly over her knife, an attic lit by the coloured light of a shattered glass window revealed to her not only an ammunition box but an entire room filled with weapons.

"Thank the Allfathers," she felt herself breathe in awe.

She crept carefully and slowly along the wooden flooring, feeling herself drawn to the dusty Longshot. She unhooked it off the wall and held it delicately in her hands. She pulled the chamber back to assess whether it was still functioning and fished in her pocket for a couple of bullets, sliding them delicately in place. She quietly crept to the window, using two fingers to wiggle one of the jagged pieces of glass out of its rotten window hold. It gave way easily and she prised it from the glass to give her a space to scope the Locust. As she placed the glass on the floorboard it slipped and sliced through her palm. She hissed as she sucked in a breath and clenched her fist in pain.

"I promise you this is for a good cause," she spoke quietly to the spirits around her.

She dropped to her knees and placed the barrel of the Longshot against the window. She peered down the scope to assess the gunfight outside, more Lambent were surrounding the Locust now. She had one chance to take a creature out without being seen. She watched as a towering Lambent Drudge squealed in gurgled glee as it grabbed hold of a fallen Drone by its head, slung it in the air like a ragdoll and ripped its legs away from its torso. The Locust dropped back, firing at the beast in response.

Two monsters, but what was the lesser of the two evils?

She lined up her target in the scope and watched it for a moment, there was no easy choice. Both would be coming for her the moment she fired her weapon. She felt a sudden wobble in her confidence, a feeling that made her want to question herself, was she even capable of doing this alone? She closed her eyes and let out a series of short sharp breaths until she felt the nervousness settle itself.

"I know," she breathed, "not the best tactic. But what other choice do I have?"

Then without thinking further she brought the scope to her eye lined up her target and pulled the trigger.